Bug Painting & January Handprint Art

by chattamama on January 26, 2012

We’ve been playing a lot with our little bugs lately. Whether making Squishy Treasure Hunts or hatching them in a Bug Bath we’ve definitely gotten a good bit of use for being useless leftovers from a previous craft. The idea to paint with them has been showing up on Pinterest lately so I thought we’d continue with our bug play while Noah is still into it. I follow No Time for Flashcards on facebook which is where this idea was originally posted and it’s a wonderful site for hands on learning activities for babies, toddlers and kids!

I was also reminded of this Hand Print Art blog post I’d pinned some time ago. It shows a new way of making hand print art each month, matching the theme or season at the time. The idea comes from E is for Explore! which is full of both Art and Science experiments for littles. definitely try visiting that blog sometime! January is almost over and I still hadn’t started on it. We’d have to squeeze in a painting double-header today!

I used acrylic paint and a paintbrush for hand print art. It is less slimy/slippery, more opaque, and I thought would look best over time as these will definitely be keepers!

I also used a heavier tag board for the hand print art

Bugs replace paintbrushes in the second activity where we worked with only our trusty finger paints.

Just scrap paper for the bug painting

First up was the hand print art. I was busy trying to keep him as clean as possible and not touching furniture. I’d say we did pretty good considering Noah’s penchant for body painting…

I swirled together blue and white paints to create this hand print snowflake. I will write “January 2012” beneath it before hanging it up. I waited for that, thinking it might take us a few tries to get it but the first one looks just perfect! A quick rinse in the tub and we were ready for the bug painting….

I squeezed out some swirls much like I did for our Train Tacks painting. I’m not sure that works better than having containers to dip the bug in but it’s what Noah likes so there you go. There was a good bit of imaginary play as we made the bugs fly, hop and swoop through the paints. I made them kiss, Noah made them eat each other.

And apparently bored with body painting, Noah experimented with hair dying (SO like his mama!!)